The Golden Ring Toss
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day fifty-six: 12 Days of Gleekmas, day 5: Brittany has a secret, very special friend, and his name is Blippo.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a second cycle. Now entering the seventh through ninth weeks, here comes cycle 3 of my gleekathon!_

_I wanted to do something Christmas-y, but not overly so, but then the song was perfect for this. So the stories in and of themselves aren't Christmas-themed, just the thing that inspired them is ;) You'll see :)_

_So presenting... **The 12 Days of Gleekmas - Day 5:** Brittany + "Five Golden Rings"_

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**"The Golden Ring Toss"  
Brittany**

Some had come to believe her to lack a filter, something to distinguish between what was to be said and what was meant to be kept to herself. She was not generally the one you went to with a secret.

There were still things she would protect though, things that were tied to special memories. So of course the most protected of these things was tied to her most treasured of her memories. The 'thing' was called Blippo.

There was one person in her life who had always understood that, true, she was not the brightest… but she was one of the kindest, sweetest. And he had always nurtured this sweetness in his granddaughter.

Her dear old Grampy's tradition had always been for the two of them to go out and do something special for her birthday. The first of these had been for her fourth birthday. He'd taken her to ride a pony. It had spooked her at first, but he'd gotten her over it. On her fifth birthday, he'd taken her to fly kites. She'd spent most of the time chasing it. And on her sixth birthday, he'd taken her to the carnival.

Her eyes had grown wide as saucers the moment she'd seen it out the car window, and her jaw seemed perpetually unhinged with awe at all she saw as they got out and walked toward it.

"Grampy, are there…" she started, walking ahead, staring up.

"Take my hand," he smiled, seeing her excitement. Unphased, she turned and grasped his hand.

"Are there balloons?" she continued.

"Oh, I'm sure there will be balloons… maybe even some blue ones," he pondered aloud, making her grin.

When they'd found the balloons, Brittany looked back to her grandfather with quiet frenzy. He gave her the money and let her go, keeping an eye on her. When she returned, beaming from ear to ear. He crouched before her, carefully tying the ribbon around her wrist, knowing her giddiness would get her eventually and she'd lose it.

They went on a number of rides, Brittany keeping the balloon safe. Seeing the cotton candy stand, seeing the pink and… blue cotton candy, she once again turned to gaze up at him. He knew how she'd get with all the sugar in her… but there was no denying her, especially on that day.

With Brittany carefully working her way through the puff of blue sugar, they walked along. And that was when she'd seen it, up among a wall of prize stuffed toys… a small blue hippo. Fingers sticky with cotton candy, she waved her hand at the stand, looking back.

"Blippo! Blippo!" she proclaimed, too excited to separate the words.

"You want it?" he asked, getting a dizzy nod – what they called the energetic nodding that inevitably left her dizzy.

Once he'd settled her by holding on to her, he looked to the stand, where a teenage boy operated the game, which was a ring toss. He had about fifteen of the golden rings on his lanky arm, waiting for a player.

"How many for the hippo?" he pointed. The boy craned his neck.

"Five to win. How many you want?" he seemed to want to chuckle. Brittany looked up at her grandfather. He just gave her head a pat.

"Five it is," he put his money down. The boy shook his head as though to say 'alright, grandpa' as he picked five rings off his arm. Taking them, Brittany's grandfather held his hand out. "Now your hands are sticky, so how about a good luck elbow?" She giggled and tapped his palm with her elbow. "Okay, here goes," he stood back, taking aim with the first ring. Brittany watched in awe, taking a chunk of cotton candy. The ring landed on target and she cheered, hopping around. "Again?" he asked her. And she nodded. "Okay," he smirked.

Once again, he took his aim, giving the boy at the stand a nod before the second, third, and fourth rings found their targets. With each new win, Brittany's celebration got louder, and the boy's eyes rolled further back.

With a final ring in hand, he looked back and crouched with his granddaughter. They both looked at the targets.

"What do you think?"

She looked back at him, pondering, then presented her elbow again. He smirked and gave it a tap. With double the luck in him, Grampy couldn't lose… and he didn't. Round and round the hopped, dizzying herself right into her grandfather's arms. He scooped her up, while the boy obliged and retrieved the blue hippo. The grandfather presented the reward to the blonde.

"Finish that up," he indicated the cotton candy. "Then we can get those hands clean and you can give this guy a squeeze," he shook the blue hippo. Two seconds later, Brittany had gobbled up the rest of her cotton candy. She smirked.

The moment 'Blippo' had been deposited in her hands, it wasn't far from her for too long. And of course, there had been many other birthday outings since, down to the most recent. But the sixth birthday could never be surpassed in her mind.

Knowing over-activity wouldn't be the best of ideas while she processed the cotton candy, he'd taken her to sit at a table. She was perfectly fine with this, giving her time to get acquainted with her new pal, Blippo. She was off in her own world, walking the cuddly plush hippo up her arm. Her grandfather watched her for a while, smiling as he saw her so enamored with the little thing. He leaned down to get her attention.

"So who's your new friend?" he looked to the hippo. She looked to it, turned it around to 'face' him. "Blippo?" she nodded. "Well, you take good care of him." Again, she nodded, turning back to Blippo, giving his head a pat.

Even now, she would show affection to Blippo by patting his head. No matter how she was growing, how things were changing, the little slightly worn Hippo remained to let her think back about this happiest memory.

Her grandfather wasn't in shape to throw too many rings anymore, but he was still dedicated to continuing in their tradition. Knowing of her involvement with Glee Club made him happy, because he could see that it made her happy too. He was the first to inquire about shows he could attend. He didn't understand much of the workings of Glee Club, and Brittany wasn't the ideal source for information, but all he needed to know was her excitement for it.

THE END


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